Pope was hired too late to get in on this freshman class, so I think moving forward we’ll certainly take more freshmen.
We did. Everyone seems to be forgetting Perry. Our best overall player last year was Reed Sheppard who was a 4 star out of Kentucky High School basketball. Perry had a even more prolific High School career than Reed. I would not discount him. Then there is Chandler the highest ranked recruit EVER to commit to BYU. He is technically a Freshman with 4 years of eligibility. They are both awesome gets for the program.
I’m hoping the last three scholarships go to freshmen not one and dones who are 3 or 4 star with promise if they play under Pope’s system . The type of guys who will earn their playing time and be glad to sit a year and go through brutal practices to hopefully one day be a starter ,
It may be too late for that. Nearly all the promising freshmen in this year’s class have already been plucked by others.
Love to see that, but the way things are trending that seems to be a thing of the past. I can see Kentucky kids like Perry sticking around and maybe a mature older Freshman like Chandler staying around, but most are going to go to the portal ASAP to cash in on NIL.
I’d be thrilled if this ends up as our final result rotation (and it looks like it might be close to happening). For the first year starting from scratch, that would be a job DAMN well done.
Perry is smaller and slower than Reed and doesn’t handle the ball as well. But we shall see.
I want guys who are ready to play and who respects the name on the front of the jersey. It doesn't matter what their grade levels are. In today's climate, you spend a lot of time recruiting kids and trying to develop them with the knowledge they can leave the following season if they don't get what they want. With this understanding, it might make more sense to get players who are ready to play so if they leave you at least got something out of them. With freshmen, you could be only developing them for some other coach to benefit from your hard work.
I recall many on this board who didn't think Reed would be able to matchup with DJ and Dillingham, but he ended up being better than both of them at least while he was at Kentucky which is all that really matters. So, it is way too early to count out Perry.
I attended all three of Lyon County's games in the All-A Classic this season. Perry does not play like Sheppard. Sheppard is accustomed to having the ball in his hands all the time. Lyon, on the other hand, ran some sets with Perry as the lead guard but more often, he played off the ball. His main thing is to be in constant motion and beat his defender to the spots where he is a deadly shooter. The first option of Lyon's offense was to get the ball to Perry in those spots and all their guys were good passers with good vision and it was very effective. I was reminded of Steve Alford at IU who played the same way.
I also don't feel like I've seen a Tshiebwe or Reeves or even Grady yet. But then again, I don't know enough about the incoming guys to really say. I do know, however, that I'm not disappointed with the players that have committed to UK so far.
I think you’ve hit on something there. In the last few days I’ve started thinking that as long as the current NIL situation exists (especially when UK has to compete in NIL with other states’ billionaires), in combination with players being allowed to transfer every year (and as many times as they want), then the value of Kentucky high school players has increased for UK to the point that maybe they should recruit the best 1 or 2 Kentucky high school players every year. I’ve never been one that wanted “Kentucky boys” on the roster just because they’re players from the state. Instead my reason is that they can be both good solid players more likely to stay to help build core continuity while, at the same time, being cheaper on the school (or school connected) NIL budget. The NIL they earn themselves (you know, the kind of NIL actually envisioned originally) and the post-college value an in-state guy playing for UK can realize may mean UK can pay them less in school-connected NIL. Kentucky produces enough good solid Div. I ability to make this possible – I think the CBB fans on this site can back that up if they start thinking about the Kentucky kids that played well at other places - so why would it be a bad idea to aim for taking the best couple of players in state each year?
247sports.com
You raise a valid point. In the current environment, is it better to try to build some core by recruiting, developing and retaining or just steal players on the developmental dime of other teams? I go back and forth on this, but I suppose you just have to do some of both and take it on a player-by-player basis. If or when the transfer rule changes (e.g., one-time transfer rule), I think a coach could be much more comfortable with the recruit, develop and retain track than currently.
This is certainly possible on offense, but I feel pretty good about the defense currently. There might be some alpha players on the defensive end.
I would ask this.... Did you see the roster pope had last season? Our roster is looking like it's gonna be quite a bit stronger and they finished inside the top 15 in the country. You would probably have thought the same thing with UConn starting last season. Coaching is what separates teams and I guess we will just have to wait and see
for sure if they get the right players for the system and Pope can get them to gel then it could work. Coaching makes a massive difference and I hope and think Pope is a massive upgrade in that regard to Cal.
I’ve seen Perry in person several times and I agree with this . But you’re showing your age with the Steve Alford comparison. lol . Wonder how many people here remember him . The comparison was spot on though.
Perry is not a PG. And I hope UK fans will temper their expectations on him. He IS NOT another Reed Sheppard. I hope he can contribute 8 - 10 min a game as a guy that can come in and make a couple threes.
